Music this week: Mumford & Sons & Paul Simon, Girl Power music

I've been getting really excited about all the concerts I'm going to be going to this summer.  I'm going to see my idol (goddess?) Florence Welch perform with Florence + the Machine at the end of the month in Cleveland.  She just posted on her Facebook page that she has sustained a vocal injury; let's pray that she heals beautifully and speedily!

I was going to see Mumford & Sons in Hoboken, but the tickets sold out.  I've been wanting to see them live ever since I heard their album, but it's probably just as well.  Their show was in the middle of the week, and the tickets were a bit steep.  I also almost went to see fun. in June, but I had a change of plans and couldn't make it.  Good thing I'd already seen them live before!

But next, I'm going to see Marina and the Diamonds in mid-August in NYC with some groovy friends. I'm psyched; it will probably be a pretty spirited and fun event!

Then in September I'm going to see Florence again! Woo!   She was coming to Camden (only 45 min from me), so I had no excuse not to get tickets!

Anyways, with all of this music excitement--- plus the news about Greenday's new albums and Pink's new song & album announcement--- I've been in a real musicy frame of mind lately.

So what have I been listening to?

1.  Paul Simon - So Beautiful or So What (the whole album)

My disappointment with not getting Mumford & Sons tickets sent me off on a wild Paul Simon binge for some reason.  I'd recently bought my dad the new album for Father's Day; so I stole it from him and it's been my work soundtrack for the past several days.

My favorites are Dazzling Blue, Rewrite, and Love is an Eternal Sacred Light.

Dazzling Blue
Favorite line: "roses red, fine white linen, to make a marriage bed."  I don't know why, but I always seem to tune in especially for that line.

Rewrite
Favorite line: "when I said help me help me help me help me, woah, thank you, for list'nin' to my prayer"

Love is an Eternal Sacred Light
Favorite line: "Big Bang/ That's a joke that I made up/ Once when I had eons to kill"

2.  Jerry Hall feat. Mumford & Sons - The Boxer (by Paul Simon)

And given my Mumford & Sons-inspired Paul Simon binge, I was ecstatic to discover this gem:

Favorite line: "Lie lie lie, Lie lie lie lie lie lie lie"


3.  The Lumineers - The Lumineers (new album)

In the same folky, Americana genre, I found out that The Lumineers now have an album.  It includes their popular song Hey Ho, and I've only listened to a couple of the tracks, but so far I'm digging Submarines:

Favorite line: "I did spy periscopes"  --- how often do you get to sing that?

4.  Girls Aloud - Theme from St. Trinian's

One the COMPLETELY OPPOSITE end of the spectrum, my iTunes shuffled me to one of my favorite loud, raucous, girl power songs: the theme song from St.Trinian's.  And I promptly listened to it over and over and over again, just as I did when I first saw St. Trinian's--- a campy, teen pop British movie that is really hard to explain, it's about a private school for crazy, mischievous girls and their hilarious hijinks (involving Colin Firth).  But this song can be sung, screamed and unceremoniously howled by girls everywhere (and includes some less-known british slang, for those interested).

Favorite lines: "Feel the fear, we're MANIACS, saaaaaaiiint Trinians" and basically the whole chorus, especially, "Check out our BATTLE CRY/ a song to TERRIFY/ no one can stand in our waaaaayyy."

5. Marina and the Diamonds - Electra Heart (new album)

I've been pumped about this album for two months now. It is finally here.  Or almost here.  Mine probably won't arrive until next week, but I've been listening to a lot of the songs online.

My current selection is Power & Control (so radio-worthy! I hope to hear it on the dials soon!)

Favorite line: "Yeah, you may be good-looking but you're not a piece of art."

 Bubblegum Bitch was a close second.

6.  Florence + the Machine - Shake it Out

FLORENCE + THE MACHINE remixing their own song.

Favorite line: **all of it**

Their whole concert is also on youtube, woo!

The more embarrassing tunes:
Give Your Heart a Break by Demi Lovato (yes, i know . . . dangerously close to me liking a Taylor Swift song)
Payphone by Maroon 5
Wild One by Flo Rida
One Thing by One Direction (or is it just prep-school NSYNC? hahaha)
Scream by Usher (so much dance dance energy!)

Stuff I keep forgetting to check out:
First Aid Kit (I've got one of their songs, but never investigated further)
the new (well, 2011) Blondie album
Coldplay's 2011 album (I know people seem to hate Coldplay, but I think I've heard some of their stuff recently and liked it.)
Fiona Apple???  Is she good?  All of a sudden everyone seems to be worshipping her.

More love for film critics

NY Times' A. O. Scott entertained me this weekend with his excellent review of Nine. Although in no way does it inspire one to go see the film, quite the opposite, the review's clever turn of phrase and witty remarks are more than an adequate substitute.

Scott brands the film: "a busy, gaudy fuss," "an impressive feat of casting . . . assembled in the service of [a] dubious and incoherent cause," and "a fatal lack of inspiration." In short it is "a mess." Even poor Daniel Day Lewis "comes off as a jerk, a compulsive liar and seeker of attention — and, in spite of the sports cars, the cigarettes and the occasional run-in with the Roman Catholic Church, not really very Italian at all."

Some highlights from the reviews:

"Ms. Cotillard attains a measure of wounded dignity as Louisa, Guido’s former leading lady and much-betrayed wife. She is not spared the striptease obligations that fall to every other female character."

"Ms. Ferguson stomps and gyrates through a number called “Be Italian,” which, like so much else in “Nine,” resembles a spread in a Victoria’s Secret catalog, only less tasteful."

And to top it off, he draws attention to one of the film's most gaudy excesses by titling the piece: There will be Lingerie (Singing, Too). Scott is certainly a credit to the profession with this one.

In other news:

Taylor Swift lined up to play Supergirl? Oh God, please no. I know everyone loves her and she is basically Tinkerbell with more hair and even more glitter but can we please draw the line some where? And dare I even mention how much muscle mass she would have to gain to be the least bit credible as an action hero?

Want to see something really scary? Watch this. Can we please wait until he has done something critically-acclaimed (and no, that does not count the MTV Movie Awards) before we start making animal sacrifices and get Zeus to adopt him?

I must confess I am rather glad that Kiera Knightely is getting less than rave reviews in her stage debut in The Misanthrope (which co-stars Damien Lewis by the way). She avoids incineration but the Daily Mail describes her performance as "little better than adequate" and the Guardian, though more kindly toward the Mail's "elegant mannequin" ponders: So she's a beautiful young movie star playing a beautiful young movie star … Does that count as acting? Maybe this will be enough to stop her remake of My Fair Lady. One can only hope.

For those who like Brian Cox, Hamlet or toddlers, enjoy this video.

Finally, St. Trinian's: The Legend of Fritton's Gold came out this weekend in the UK. Let's wish the girls luck and hope they give David Tennant a proper hard time.

Josh Groban is Sexy! David Tennant goes grey.

It is official. Josh Groban is sexy. You've all heard it from me, but now other 'People' think so to. We now have tangible documentation.

Josh is going to be in the upcoming Sexiest Men Alive edition of People Magazine. Yay Josh!

See the video here.

Josh will also be back on Glee sometime this season.


In other news, St. Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold will be coming out in the UK soon. December 18th to be exact. And on that date we will get a chance to see the lovely David Tennant as the villainous Lord Pomfrey, the leader of a woman-hating secret society. If we were not in love with the girlz already, this is definitely enough to entice us to watch.

DT sheds his typical suave style for a more mature look. But like Richard Gere, he only makes grey gorgeous. And rumor has it, he ends up sloshing through the sea at some point. We can only hope for a Colin Firth/Darcy calibre moment! (Though I actually did not find that as exciting as everyone else seem to.)

Now if only they would release the trailer already!